When designers plan a room, or a living environment, the first thing they consider are the elements of design: color, texture, balance, scale, and pattern.  To begin your room, you’ll think of each of the elements to obtain your desired effect.  The tools and techniques of design are the components that designers use to create a specific look and feel for a room.

Color: Color can set the mood of a room (e.g., relaxing vs. stimulating) and also determines whether a room has a masculine or feminine feel.  Color can also alter the apparent size of rooms and furnishings.

Texture: Texture is the characteristic of a material, which can be both seen and felt (e.g., soft, rough, sculpted, smooth). Texture can also make a room look either warm and inviting, or more formal and almost too good to touch.

Balance: Balance in design creates a feeling of proper proportion and equilibrium. Making the apparent visual weights of objects equalize or approximate each other is the key to balance.  For example, two end tables of equal size and color surrounding a sofa create a balanced feeling.

Scale: The scale of an item relates to how its size interacts with other items in the same visual space. For example, a large lamp on a tiny end table would be out of scale.

Pattern: Patterns used to decorate interior surfaces can be geometric, stylized, natural, or abstract. Pleasing patterns are composed of basic design motifs that are repeated, altered and sequenced, contrasted with other patterns, and emphasized or obscured. Patterns can be mixed and matched to unify an interior space, or to create interest through contrast.

Choosing Furniture Styles

Now that you’ve created a floor plan, its time to choose the specific pieces you would like. There are a lot of choices for you space, it can be formal or informal, masculine, feminine, traditional, contemporary, casual country, transitional, and eclectic. In addition to fabric and leather upholstery covers and home accents, the furniture you select will influence the overall look and feel of the room.

When you’re designing a room, you need to consider your living style, the level of formality or casualness that would satisfy your needs, and the mood that you would like to create. To help you, pick up a few home design magazines at your local grocery store and start looking through them. Cut out ideas of things that catch your eye. From here you can start to formulate a design or look you are hoping for.

Asking for Assistance

Do not allow yourself to postpone your project just because you are unsure of where to start. You can schedule a design consultant to come and make a house call which is complimentary to all Bassett customers.  This can save you a lot of money instead of hiring an Interior Designer for a fee.  Sometimes there is confusion or indecision over cover and color choices that need to be resolved.  Other times, you will need to measure for proper furniture fit within a room.  Sometimes, the room shapes and the functionality are more difficult and you want an expert to help. Either way, it is more cost effective than making furniture purchases that turn out to be a mistake.

While, design consultants are available to come to measure your room, you may to decide to tackle this job yourself. Begin at the door or entryway that is used the most. On your first wall, take an overall dimension of the full length/width of the room.  Then note the dimension from door to window, then from the window to the next wall. You are taking little measurements that should add up to the overall length of that wall. Carefully go around the room using a measuring tape to measure from opening to opening. Include all openings for doors and windows, fireplaces, and so forth. Indicate the measurements from one end of each wall to each opening using “extension lines.” In this way, measuring will become relatively simple, and you can then develop an accurate floor plan, which is a layout of current furniture in the room and a plan for which pieces will be replaced with furniture from your store.

The next step is to create a floor plan. You may bring in your dimensions and have them professionally done or you can do this over the internet with some Bassett tools.  To create a computer floor plan you can go to www.bassettfurniture.com and click on Plan a Room. Use the templates to help with the beginning layout of a room.  You can then select your furniture to start planning your room. The furniture shapes will allow you to make a mock layout and decide where each piece of furniture belongs in the room.

There are many things to consider when placing new furniture into a room:

Room Function

What is the room used for (e.g., TV viewing, listening to music, conversation, entertaining)? This will be a critical factor in the pieces that you recommend (e.g., an entertainment center for TV viewing, a sofa/loveseat grouping for casual conversation).

Special Architectural Features

Are there any special architectural features that you would like to either incorporate into the overall plan or disguise (e.g.. split-level living areas, decorative molding)?

Furniture Dimensions and Traffic Flow

When you’re developing a floor plan, you need to consider both the dimensions of furniture and the space needed around each piece for traffic flow.  For example, you would need to make sure you leave sufficient legroom between a sofa and a coffee table, so that people can easily sit down in and get up from the sofa. Where do people walk in to and out of the room? What are the seating areas used for, and how do people enter and exit them? Be sure to add enough space for traffic flow.

Aesthetic Use of Space

Also take into consideration what you find to be aesthetically pleasing.  One person may prefer to arrange a room with sparse furniture, so she can show off or accentuate her special pieces, while having that airy, open feeling.  Another person may want the warm and cozy feel of home by filling her room with many different pieces.  What one person considers clutter, another person may consider “home.” Find what you like!

Focal Points

Another thing to consider when you’re developing a floor plan is the focal point or focal points of a room.  A focal point is an item to which the eyes are drawn, and around which activities may be centered.  If you have a favorite piece of art, this could be a focal point.  Focal points can also be windows, fireplaces, and other architectural features.  Find out what the focal points are and design the room around them.  Drama is created by the use of a major case goods piece or art that is immediately noticed upon entering the room.

Balance and Scale

Balance in design creates a feeling of proper proportion and equilibrium.  Making the apparent visual weights of objects equalize or approximate each other is the key to balance.  For example, two end tables of equal size and color surrounding a sofa create a balanced feeling.  The scale of an item relates to how its size interacts with other items in the same visual space.  For example, a large lamp on a tiny end table would be out of scale.

When creating a floor plan, consider the visual weight of each item, and make sure it balances with the visual weight of other items in the room. Also make sure that you don’t place massive, over-sized pieces next to smaller, more delicate pieces, unless this is a deliberate decision made to create a unique effect.

Once you have figured out the size of the furniture and placement of each piece, then you can go out shopping and choose the specific pieces and fabric or leather covers to make the room a reality.

Once you know your family needs and constraints, you need to have an objective statement.  You can then design your room.

1. Measuring & Floor Plans

Arranging a room involves sitting down and sketching out the living space and placement of the furniture (a floor plan). In this step, you need to choose the number and types of pieces you will invest in (e.g., one sofa, two chairs, two end tables, and a coffee table).

1. Choosing Furniture Styles

Once you create a floor plan, you can then go out shopping for the specific furniture styles that will create both an aesthetic and functional room for your lifestyle needs.

1. Combining Color and Texture

In this step, you will select one or more fabric or leather upholstery covers, integrating these with the other elements of color and texture in the room (e.g., window treatments, wall covering, rugs).

1. Completing the Room

In this step, you will integrate wall art, floral’s, and decorative accessories, to truly create a living environment that reflects the customer’s personality and your own design expertise.